1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to truck trailers and in particular to a trailer convertible from a hopper for hauling grain to an overwidth flat bed for hauling a harvesting machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A large amount of grain and other crops that are harvested by machine are harvested by independent contractors. These crews furnish the harvesting equipment and trucks for hauling the harvested grain from the fields to a storage elevator in the nearest town, or other suitable storage places. The harvesting machines normally called combines, are large self-propelled vehicles. Combines travel at a relatively slow speed and are not adapted for highway traffic, thus are normally hauled from one area to the other, if the distance is more than a few miles.
Many combines have an overall wheel width that may be as wide as 121/2 feet from outer side to outer side of the wheels or tires. The headers or cutting assemblies may be 26 feet wide or greater. The header is usually removed for hauling, and carried on the bed of a grain hauling truck. However, even though the header is removed, the combine remains overwidth. Any width greater then legal width, which is now 8 feet for highway traffic, is used herein to mean "overwidth". Special permits and regulations are required for overwidth vehicles to be transported on highways.
Normally these overwidth combines are hauled on specially constructed trailers towed by conventional legal width grain hauling trucks. Some of these trailers are of variable width from legal width to 12 feet. On the variable width type, outriggers along the sides telescope in transverse pipes. Overwidth combines are carried by the extended outriggers. Other trailers are of fixed overwidth.
It would be desirable to increase the grain hauling capacity of the trucks without increasing truck size. The combine trailers known serve only to carry combines and are not capable of carrying grain, since they lack a hopper and dumping means. The fixed overwidth trailers are unsuitable for grain hauling, even if they contained the necessary structure, because of the special permits and regulations required for transporting overwidth vehicles on highways.